The post-conference whirlwind is over, and I’ll write up the experience more extensively later but right now here are a few notes:

Thierry Baudet (FvD) and Dan Hannan

1) It’s been an indescribable honor and privilege to bring together such fierce, determined, passionate, brilliant people from around the world like Dan Hannan, Thierry Baudet, John Fund, Mischael Modrikamen, Guy Milliere, Matt Tyrmand, Katie Hopkins, Aaron Rhodes, Peter Kim, Jeesoo Hong, Dan Cho, Lawrence Peck, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, Marc Jongen, Steven Woolfe, and others… the list is a long one and AFA really did stage a historic event. If you were there, I imagine you couldn’t help but feel the POWER, the caring, the energy that emanated from the entire event.

Topics ranged from “From Free Speech to Hate Speech: a Dialectic of Enlightenment” (Marc Jongen, member Germany’s AfD Party) to the crucial nature of California in

Dominik Tarczynski, Gary Aminoff, Katie Hopkins

the preservation of freedom (a small part of Dan Hannan’s Saturday Keynote), from the Left’s penetration of South Korean democracy (Daniel Cho and the entire Korean panel on Sunday) to the disruptive nature of unfettered immigration in France (Guy Milliere), from the dangers of the PC culture even in Korea (Jeesoo Hong) to cultural preservation through political means (Thierry Baudet, founder and leader of the Forum for Democracy party in the Netherlands) and countless other incredibly powerful and informative talks, the conference was, quite simply, a blockbuster of an event.

Dr. Daniel Cho

2) A very special THANK YOU to the Adam and Gila Milstein Foundation and the Save Korea Foundation, our two major sponsors whose support were instrumental in our hosting this. In addition, we can’t do what we do without our donors – thank you all for making this possible. To become part of this esteemed and most appreciated group, please click here.

3) A tremendous THANK YOU to Michael Greer, John Hancock, Gary Aminoff, Guy Milliere, Matthew Tyrmand, John Fund, Lawrence Peck, Peter Kim and many others who, through their assistance, counsel and support, helped make this the superb event that it was. And we also are infinitely grateful to the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel for withstanding the onslaught of hate that came their way as a result of our being there. Much more on that later.

Jeesoo Hong

4) Each speaker was eloquent on the topic of freedom, sovereignty, rights, Western Civilization and our Judeo Christian heritage. Speakers from around the world spoke of our shared values, and shared fight. Yes, even those from South Korea, a nation modeled after ours, spoke with a love and respect for OUR constitution, OUR founders, OUR Judeo-Christian heritage.

5) Speaker after speaker made the point that we MUST re-elect Donald Trump. A strong America, an America that stands for FREEDOM and sovereignty is KEY to freedom and sovereignty everywhere. Eight years of Obama empowered the leftist, globalist, anti-freedom forces and nobody, NOBODY wants to see a return to that again. Strong sovereign nations are the key to greater freedoms, and President Donald Trump stands in utter support of that.

6) Nearly all of the European politicians we had as speakers do NOT see themselves as politicians first. They are authors, heads of think-tanks, philosophers, journalists, long before they see themselves as politicians. They see politics, then, as the means for protecting their culture from the various leftist forces that seek to destroy it – not unlike us, here. The Left’s destructive forces are more advanced in Europe and S. Korea than here, and they are fighting against it with a recognition of the existential threat that the Left is posing. Think, for example, Minneapolis and you’ll have some idea of it.

7) We had one speaker who came a day early to explore SoCal on a Harley. Another toodled aroound the area with Uber Pool so he could meet and talk to regular people here. Others swam in the Pacific, went to wineries, spoke at local universities. Each and every one was eager to be here, to grab what we have with GUSTO and to share their passions and concerns with us.

What I’m trying to convey is: AFA conferences bring together astounding human beings. They’re so much more than the speakers we see them as. They are some of the most erudite, well-read, intelligent, caring, vibrant people you could hope too meet. Each and every one. The conference itself was breathtaking – one word used was “transcendant” – the time at the bar afterwards where we have the opportunity to meet with these wonderful human beings is also a real gift.